Periodically, I will be blogging over at Reformed Worship, a broad and thoughtful home for deep reflection and great resources. My first submission is a plea for folks in our Reformed tradition (and beyond) to take seriously the investigation of Thomas Cranmer, sixteenth century English Archbishop and architect of the Book of Common Prayer. In the article, I discuss why we’re tempted to overlook him as one of the Reformation’s best worship thinkers and why he should be considered as … Read More
Come and Make Us Free EP – RELEASES TODAY
Cages. We’re well pedigreed engineers of them. We construct them, we think, for comfort. We believe they will save us, either by protecting us from the cruel blows of the world or by protecting the world from us. They keep the world in check, or they keep us in check. Either way, they are wrought-ironed evidence of humanity’s slavery to self-salvation, self-justification. Riffing on Calvin: the human heart is a cage factory, skillfully engineering ten thousand self-made prisons. Come and … Read More
Liberating Worship: Notes from My Worship Breakout at LIBERATE 2015
If I had 30 minutes to talk about worship, this is what I’d say. Worship is Divine service, where God serves us from the riches of the benefits of Christ’s death and life for us. The Reformation offered some very helpful distinctives in thinking through how the gospel “works” in the human being during worship (i.e. incurvatus in se, the Old and New Adams, and a Theology of Glory versus a Theology of the Cross) The Reformation offered a theology … Read More
The Songs of LIBERATE 2015
We’ll be singing a LOT at LIBERATE 2015, which starts tomorrow here in sunny, warm Ft. Lauderdale. We’re expecting to gather over 2000 people from every state and over twenty countries. In addition to leading a worship workshop tomorrow, my great joy will be to lead music. We’re singing a bunch of gospel-saturated songs, including several from our new EP, Come and Make Us Free, which releases tomorrow at the Conference and Tuesday everywhere else. Hop on over to LIBERATE … Read More
A Trinitarian Call to Worship Song
Posted yesterday over at LIBERATE was my song analysis of our opening track, “Father, How Great Your Delight in the Son” on our November EP, The Magnifcent Three. The Magnificent Three by Zac Hicks & Coral Ridge Worship I wanted to write a hymn in Trinitarian shape, similar to “Come Thou Almighty King,” though with a bit more focus on the roles of the Persons and their mutual delight. The ultimate goal was to give the Church a song … Read More
A Book on Rock that Both Melts Your Face and Slays Your Soul…Just As It Should
I hope every worship leader is a lover of rock n roll. I hope they love its history, development, pivotal artists, and diversification. I hope these things because, as I’ve said elsewhere, thoughtful, intentional worship leaders should recognize that the musical ideas, idioms, expressions, and foundations are part of a now rich sonic tradition. Church musicians who lead various forms of contemporary/modern worship would find their skills blessed and strengthened for having taken the time to delve into their tradition’s … Read More
How EDM is Changing the Form of Song Structure in Pop Music…and Maybe Congregational Music
The New EDM “Chorus” Anyone who has been listening to pop music especially the last five years can note the spilling of electronic dance music (EDM) into the mainstream. More and more collaboration is occuring between major EDM artist/DJs/producers (think David Guetta, Avicii, Skrillex [I’ll lump him broadly in]). Songs like Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” and Guetta/Usher’s “Without You” are the kinds of things I’m talking about. One notices, though, a clash of forms as the two genres of vocals-driven … Read More